The breeze hit my face and gave cool relief to my sunburned skin. I looked out over the ocean and felt sheer gratitude. The plan I hatched in September with my girlfriends over lunch in the senior cafeteria had come to fruition, we had skipped our prom in favor of a weekend at the beach. I was very animated when I proposed the idea of forgoing the old fashioned idea of … [Read more...]
Thank You, Mrs. Lee
When my first child, Tom, started to show signs that he had a learning difference at the age of 18 months, I jumped very quickly on it and did everything in my power to get him help. I did this not out of any special skill or talent but because I remembered very clearly what it felt like to be totally lost in a classroom. In 1971 I was in the first grade and miserable. I … [Read more...]
Making the Grade
My cell phone rang and jarred me from my computer. I checked the time, I still had about 25 minutes to work before my kids started coming home from school. I looked at the phone and saw it was my 17-year-old son. Strange, he should be in class. Hoping that there was no problem, I quickly picked it up. “Mom, I got my math regents grade back.” With those few words, I … [Read more...]
Tis the Season for Thanks & Lipstick
It’s November and Thanksgiving is only weeks away. Magazines, talk shows, and blogs are about to be filled with people eloquently sharing what means the most to them and their lives this holiday season. Because the bulk of my writing is about my family, some people will assume that they are what comes to mind whenever I think about the things I’m grateful for. But they … [Read more...]
Driving Lessons
Being the mom of two teens and a 10-year-old means a fair amount of my time is in my minivan shuttling kids back and forth from various activities. Driving is as much in my job description as are chief meal maker, laundry wrangler, and sibling arbitrator. I’m a mom, I drive. Nothing special or out of the ordinary about that.Or is there? Until the age of 34 I had never, … [Read more...]
